Tuesday, February 08, 2011

The Coalition is committed to doing everything necessary to rebuild communities hit by floods and Cyclone Yasi this summer, without Labor’s new tax.

Today I am outlining further cuts and deferrals in government expenditure that demonstrate another new Labor tax is unnecessary.

Last year the Coalition set out $50 billion worth of savings and cuts to the Rudd-Gillard Government’s reckless and wasteful spending. That plan would return the budget to surplus and start to pay down Labor’s debt through spending restraint and eliminating government waste, such as cutting government advertising, reducing consultancy expenses, putting a freeze on public service recruitment and cancelling the NBN.

Today I can outline more than $2 billion in further savings measures that the Gillard Government should adopt instead of its flood tax.

The Coalition calls on the government to take up the following savings and deferral of spending and divert the money to the reconstruction and recovery effort:

. Partially deferring water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin

. Delaying funding under the so-called Building the Education Revolution (BER) programme

. Redirecting the remaining funds from the Building Better Regional Cities programme

Julia Gillard must also reverse her decision to cut funding for flood mitigation works on the Bruce Highway and the Herbert River floodplain. Funding flood recovery through cuts to flood mitigation works makes no sense whatsoever.

By identifying more than $2 billion in savings measures, the following Queensland projects can be restored:

. Duplication of the Bruce Highway from Vantassel Street to Flinders Highway